The paper reeds by the brooks, by the {g} mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

(g) The Hebrew word is mouth, by which they mean the spring out of which the water gushes as out of a mouth.

Wesley's Notes

19:7 Paper - reeds - These by a needle, or other fit instrument, were divided into thin and broad leaves, which being dried and fitted, were used at that time for writing; and consequently was a very good commodity. By brooks - And much more what was sown in more dry and unfruitful places.

King James Translators' Notes

and be...: Heb. and shall not be

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. paper-reeds-rather, pastures, literally, "places naked" of wood, and famed for rich herbage, on the banks of the Nile [Gesenius]. Compare Ge 13:10; De 11:10. Horsley translates, "nakedness upon the river," descriptive of the appearance of a river when its bottom is bare and its banks stripped of verdure by long drought: so Vulgate.

the brooks-the river.

mouth-rather, "the source" [Vulgate]. "Even close to the river's side vegetation shall be so withered as to be scattered in the shape of powder by the wind" (English Version, "driven away") [Horsley].

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:1-17 God shall come into Egypt with his judgments. He will raise up the causes of their destruction from among themselves. When ungodly men escape danger, they are apt to think themselves secure; but evil pursues sinners, and will speedily overtake them, except they repent. The Egyptians will be given over into the hand of one who shall rule them with rigour, as was shortly after fulfilled. The Egyptians were renowned for wisdom and science; yet the Lord would give them up to their own perverse schemes, and to quarrel, till their land would be brought by their contests to become an object of contempt and pity. He renders sinners afraid of those whom they have despised and oppressed; and the Lord of hosts will make the workers of iniquity a terror to themselves, and to each other; and every object around a terror to them.